An equity issue by a firm that doesn’t have common stock outstanding (i.e., that is not listed). Differently stated, it is an initial offering of shares by a firm that doesn’t currently have a public listing for trading its equity issue. Examples of primary equity offerings include initial public offerings and the first listing of preferred shares. Due to the lack of reference share price, the pricing of primary equity offerings is more complicated than the pricing of secondary equity offerings.

It is also known as an unseasoned equity offering.